The invention relates to a multi staged manual switch to selectively close several electrical connections and to interrupt the switched connections, in particular for an electric toothbrush in order to switch on and off different output stages of a toothbrush motor.
Manual switches of the aforementioned kind are employed in numerous electric devices and are known and useful in very different designs. In the case of an electric toothbrush for example, one can switch on different motor speeds with such a manual switch. In the case of a hair dryer correspondingly different heating stages can be selected.
To date such manual switches have been designed as multi stages rotary switches for smaller electric devices used by consumers, for example, for electric toothbrushes or hair dryers. In such rotary switches the sequence of the switching operation is automatically fixed. From the zero positions one can switch only into the first and thereafter into the respective other switch position. Even when switching the device off, one has to switch back again from a higher switching stage through all of the lower switching stages, in order to reach the zero position. This manipulation is perceived frequently as tedious.
Of course, it is also known in the state of the art to arrange several pressure contact switches side-by-side in order to switch on several output stages. Then the interrupter has to be coupled to the individual pressure contact switches of the different output stages, so that, when the interrupter is depressed, all of the pressure contact switches are switched back into their zero position. Pressure contact switches with such features are, however, quite expensive so that to date they are not common in smaller, inexpensive devices for consumer use on account of the cost.
The invention is based on the problem of designing a multi staged manual switch of the aforementioned kind that is constructed as simply as possible so that its switching stages and also its zero position can be switched in any arbitrary sequence.